Israel: The People of Life⤒🔗

Many times when we come to chapters in the Old Testament like Deuteronomy 14, we scratch our heads and wonder what we are to make of these regulations for today. Why did the LORD give Israel these particular prohibitions and commands? Was it simply because of cultural, pagan customs prevailing in Israel's day and neighborhood?

As we study this chapter, we're going to see a common thread uniting these various precepts. That thread is this: by the LORD's electing love, Israel has been brought to life and freed from death's power; therefore, she must demonstrate that life in her style, her daily practices and customs, her personal behavior.

Israel was born on the night of Passover; her Exodus from Egypt was her birthday, the day she came to life after years of bondage or death. The only thing that had kept her going was the LORD'S promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Those promises were on the way to reality now that she was about to cross the Jordan River into Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey (sustainers of life!).

In Deuteronomy 14, the people who had been brought from death to life by divine grace are being taught to dwell in the land of the living by demonstrat­ing their separation from death and devotion to the living God.

Grieving in Covenant Style (read 14:1-2)←⤒🔗

Notice first in these verses the shocking address: 'You are the children of the LORD your God.' That's something we would expect from Paul or John or Jesus. Here, already in the Old Testament, we learn the biblical idea of sonship.

And this isn't the first time, for in Exodus 4:22-23 we read of Moses being dispatched to Pharaoh to contend for the ownership of Israel, God's son. You see, God's son is in bondage — that is: for all practical purposes, as good as dead, since Israel was un-free.

Then came the Exodus, the day of divine action that was to be decisive for Israel's style. For her LORD had said, 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.' This was the prologue to the law of life, the law defining Israel's life-style.

Here, in Deuteronomy 14:1-2, God teaches Israel, standing on the shore of the Jordan River, ready to enter Canaan, about the style of her grieving at the graveside. And this address, 'I am the LORD your God,' was to remind weeping Israelites, as they stood in the cemetery, that they were free (that is: living) children of the LORD. Their grieving had to be done in covenant style: like Father, like son! Burying the dead was covenant business!

All of this comes to bear on the activity forbidden in verse 1b. The nations surrounding Israel employed a variety of grieving customs. We meet some of them in the Bible: sackcloth, ashes or dirt on the head (cf. Job, David). Although these customs were shared by Israel's neighbors, many of those pagan mourners went still further, to express their grief by cutting their flesh, and by shaving the hair on their foreheads.

Why were these specific mourning customs forbid­den Israel? (Please understand that this is not a question of doubt! The text itself requires us to ask this question.) Because self-mutilation and shedding one's blood was symbolic of maintaining fellowship with the dead. And in Bible times, hair was not only a symbol of strength and virility, but also of freedom. P.O.W.s and slaves were shaved to symbolize their subjection into the hands of another.

But these expressions of grief were not in covenant style, because these practices failed to recognize — and bear testimony to — God's grace and Israel's status as His children. These practices of self-mutilation and hair-cutting confessed instead domination by the terror and awesomeness of death. Israel's neighbors were acknowledging by their grieving customs that death was decisive, final, and irreversible!

But as the children of the LORD, redeemed from death, Israel's funeral habits had to reflect whose they were. So in this prohibition the LORD sets a limit to His children's grief. For this law prophesies something coming. They may mourn and weep, beat their breasts, cover themselves with sackcloth and ashes — but that was all. Because one day life would overcome death — Jesus Christ was on the way; Easter was coming! And as a people, Israel was to bear testimony by her funeral customs to the coming Christ.

But then why does the LORD add verse 2, that Israel is a holy people, and that He had chosen her from among all the nations? Once again He points her to her status: she is holy, chosen, possessed, owned by the LORD. And here we see one of the most fascinating applications of the doctrine of election: to be elect is to belong to the LORD, to be in His posses­sion. And because God owns His people, He will not allow death to be the last word. For Israel, this meant that Easter would come — guaranteed! Guaranteed by divine election! God would not let His holy one see corruption (that is: remain in the grave)!

How must we apply this today?

One of the blessings of living on this side of Easter is that we have the privilege of preparing our funerals as a testimony to the victory of life over death, in Christ Jesus! To talk, and plan, and bear witness through our funeral customs is grieving in covenant style. That's one way to apply these verses. (Question 1)

But if we are to testify consistently to life in the midst of our tears over death, then we must testify consistently to life while we are living. We live in a society preoccupied with death. In the spring of 1992, the number two bestselling book was Final Exit by Derek Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society. It's a book that gives tips on how to commit suicide. Death is being glorified in rock music, in homosexuali­ty (a dead-end, in more respects than one!), in policies of fiscal and intellectual suicide. And in that society we must bear witness as children of the LORD to life in Christ Jesus, by the music we listen to and perform; by bringing into the world a new generation (how many contraceptives result in infant death?); by remaining financially and intellectually free to be slaves of Jesus Christ. (Question 2)

Eating in Covenant Style (read 14:3-21)←⤒🔗

Demonstrating this style of life involves even our diet. Notice that the statement of the LORD'S electing love immediately precedes the list of clean and un­clean animals. Israel's diet demonstrates covenantal difference from surrounding nations.

As you read these verses and consider the charac­teristics of the animals listed (some of them quite unfamiliar to us today), it strikes us that the unclean animals bring with them associations with the wild, with preying on other animals, with the occult, and with scavenging. The reasons for declaring various animals to be clean or unclean are not always clear to us. A partial explanation is provided by the categories of cud-chewing and cloven hooves. But the rest of biblical teaching indicates that there was nothing inherently wrong with these animals as creatures made by God.

But now you may be thinking: Before we get too deep here, let's remember that for Christians, this distinction between clean and unclean animals is no longer binding. This true observation is based on Peter's vision at Joppa, and the LORD'S own lifting of the distinction (see Acts 10:9ff.), along with Paul's teaching that 'every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanks­giving' (1 Timothy 4:4).

Well, then, what lessons must we learn from this portion of Deuteronomy 14?

In a sermon preached on Tuesday, 22 October 1555, John Calvin applied these verses to his Genevan congregation this way:

Then let us mark well that although the ceremony be no longer in use, yet the law in itself is not done away, but that God enjoins (upon) us the same sobriety at this day, whereto He meant to lead the people of old time by the means that were agreeable to that time (italics added).

Elsewhere he states that while the ceremony of honor­ing the distinction between clean and unclean animals has passed away, the pith or core of that requirement has not, namely: sobriety and self-denial over against the world and the lusts of the flesh, both enslaved to death.

Notice the intimate extent of covenantal holiness. Before Christ, even the diet of God's children had to reflect their devotion to the living LORD who gave and sustained their life; and at the same time, it had to show their abhorrence of death as a principle that touches every facet of human existence. How much more intimate and extensive for us who live after Christ's appearance, must be our devotion to a holy lifestyle and abhorrence of dead works (cf. Hebrews 6:1).

Observe also the daily testimony of a covenantal lifestyle. For old Israel, her food (or: that arena where human life is sustained by death) was restricted to those animals whose own diet was not characterized by rotting decay and death. As a result of these regula­tions, every backyard barbecue and every forkful of cooked meat should have reminded the Israelites that keeping God's will was the most important food they could desire (see John 4:34). (Question 3)

Celebrating Life Guaranteed by the LORD (read 14:22-29)←⤒🔗

The LORD also instructed Israel regarding what appear to be three kinds of tithes. The first tithe, described in Numbers 18:21-24, belonged wholly to the LORD and was given to the Levites. The second tithe was a festival offering enjoyed by Israel in the LORD'S presence (Deuteronomy 12:6-7, 17-18; 14:22-26). The third tithe was offered every third year for the local Levite, and for the local foreigners, fatherless and widows (Deuteronomy 14:27-29; 'within your gates' = local).

Some of the results are obvious. The poor and defenseless (orphans and widows) were cared for in a way far more personal and dignified than any govern­ment bureaucracy could manage. The priests, who were responsible for ceremonies of Israel's worship and cult, were adequately supported, as were the Levites, who shouldered broad governmental responsi­bilities (2 Chronicles 23:1-5) in addition to sanctuary duties alongside the priests (1 Chronicles 23:28-31; 2 Chronicles 29:34; 35:11). (Questions 4 and 5)

It is important not to imagine that the tithes constituted gifts to God. Tithes must be distinguished from 'freewill offerings,' which were given beyond the tenth (Exodus 36:3-7; Leviticus 22:21; Deuteronomy 16:10-11). Rather, the tithe functions like a divine tax, paid to the LORD in return for using His earth and its produce.

In summary, tithing teaches us to celebrate joyfully life guaranteed by the LORD. Faithful, heartfelt tithing of our increase shows dependence on the LORD, a trust that He will provide for all our needs. People who tithe obediently know the lesson our Savior taught His disciples, when the fellow asked Jesus to help him get his share of the inheritance: 'Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses' (Luke 12:15).

Permission to celebrate the LORD'S guarantee of life lies in the command to enjoy this particular tithe offering in a meal in the LORD'S presence (vv.23, 26). There was a bit of 'give-and-take' between the LORD and His children! They were not allowed simply to eat the meal at home, but had to appear at the sanctuary. If the trip was too far for carrying the tithe, the produce could be converted into cash to buy ingredi­ents for the meal at the sanctuary.

In this way the LORD taught His people that everything they received from Him came from the hands of a reconciled God. The sanctuary was the place of atonement, the place of blood-sacrifice, the place of life-through-death. By insisting that Israel come to the sanctuary to enjoy the festive tithe, the LORD reminded her that blessing, fruitfulness and prosperity are possible only because sin has been dealt with. (Question 6)

Every third year the tithe was to be stored and spent locally for the support of the poor, the distressed and the Levite. Already we see shadows of the time when God's Israel would have no central sanctuary, but would express and enjoy benevolence locally among fellow believers.

The day was coming when people, reconciled through the blood of God's Lamb, would rejoice in the LORD's guarantee of life and share in it with every Sunday's offering. God's indwelling Holy Spirit would enable believers to give themselves fully to His service. For them, the tithe is only a beginning!

Questions for Reflection and Reply←⤒🔗

1. Illustrate how we can bear witness to Easter (life overcoming death) through our funeral customs.
2. Is cremation acceptable for the Christian? Why (not)?
3. Do you agree that no food or beverage is inherent­ly forbidden? How can voluntary abstaining from certain foods or beverages demonstrate our dif­ferentness? How do table devotions (prayer and Bible reading) fulfill the design of Old Testament dietary laws?
4. Do you agree that the modern welfare state, which provides for the poor, is unbiblical? Why (not)? Has the church defaulted from her responsibilities here?
5. Does God's Word require believers to tithe? Mention several blessings that come from tithing.
6. Is the Red Cross a "Christian' organization"? Why (not)? Why must relief work by Christians always include pointing out personal and social sins?